Conference tourism pays off as visitors’ arrival rise by 14 per cent

The growth in conference tourism has handed the hospitality industry a major lifeline after the number of visitors through the country’s airports grew 14 per cent in the first five months of the year.

Official Government data shows that there were 324,276 visitors that arrived through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Mombasa International Airport (MIA) between January and May this year. This is almost 40,000 more visitors.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in its monthly Leading Economic Indicators showed that in the similar period in 2015, the country received 284,313 visitors through the airports.

“The total number of visitors arriving through Jomo Kenyatta (JKIA) and Moi International Airports (MIA) increased to 62,872 in May 2016 from 55,180 in April 2016,” the report read in part.

Kenya has been counting on hosting major international conferences to help it crawl out of a four-year slug following its entry into Somalia to fight the militant Al Shabaab terror group.

This year alone, the country has hosted three major conferences among them the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) and the United Nations Trade Conference. National carrier Kenya Airways is expected to be one of the major beneficiaries of this upsurge in numbers. But it is the players in the hospitality industry who have seen a major lift in their earnings after hosting the delegates.

This has also been boosted by several heads of state who have visited the country, among them Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks.

However, in the month on month, the number of passengers who landed at JKIA decreased from 179,599 in May 2016 to 179,179 in June 2016, while passengers who embarked increased from 180,348 persons to 180,448 persons in the same period.

The data also showed that Kenyan imports from the United States halved in the first six months of this year at a time when China was tightening its stronghold on the country’s trade front. The KNBS data shows that the US was losing its spot as the country’s important import destination in the half year period, after the value of its imports dropped by 50 per cent to hit Sh25 billion between January to June this year.

This is down from the Sh51.7 billion reported last year. China on the other hand exported goods worth Sh150 billion in the first six months of this year.